Matches for "NZ Metropolitan Trotting Club"

Two of the biggest spectacles of Cup Week are set to receive a stakes boost, but it’s a decision at the other end of the spectrum which will come as the best news out of Addington Raceway this week.
The New Zealand Trotting Cup and Dominion Handicap will both gain a raise of $50,000 for this year with the Cup now worth $700,000 and the Dominion shifting to $250,000.
But it’s the decision by Addington officials to raise their minimum stakes in the new season that will draw the most applause after plenty of frustration has been aired in recent months.
Currently set at $5,000, the minimum stake will now sit at $7,000 – a 40 per cent rise.
Feature race days will also receive a boost in the lower grades with CO races going from $8,000 to $9,000 and C1 graded races jumping from $10,000 to $11,000.
Addington have kept the good news coming too with the new season set to also see 2 per cent of each stake paid out to connections of horses who don’t figure in a stakes bearing dividend.
Addington Raceway made the stakes increase announcement at the grand opening of a new administration block on top of the stabling complex which will play home to the new drivers room along with JCA members and the main Trackside base on race night.
Also announced at the opening was a new look to the popular Show Day Futurity which will see $84,000 worth of stakes paid out during the first half of the season.
As well as the $40,000 Final on Show Day, those paid up for the series will also be eligible to compete in a number of other specially programmed races in the lead up to the second week of November as well as a $11,000 race in December which will be open to all those who are paid up with the exception of those who finish in the top three placings in the final.
The build up to this year’s New Zealand Trotting will also see a change this year.
The Cup will still travel along the same path toward the $700,000 event but the hotly contested Canterbury Classic in October will this year, for the first time, carry an extra incentive.
As opposed to the usual automatic entry into the Cup for the winner, the top three place getters will now be invited.
The change shouldn’t see too many changes to the norm if previous seasons are anything to go on.
By the time the Classic rolls around the pecking order for the Cup is almost done and dusted and those who have finished in the top three in recent years have already qualified, or are well up the order of rankings.
By Matt Markham (Harness Racing New Zealand)
Important Dates for Cup and Dominion
This year nominations for the 2014 Christchurch Casino New Zealand Trotting Cup and Hellers Dominion at Addington will be taken earlier than previous years to increase exposure and to enable fixed odds markets to open mid-August.
Nominations for both races will close at 3.00pm on Wednesday 13 August 2014.
Christchurch Casino NZ Trotting Cup - $700,000 - Group 1 - 11 November 2014
Initial nomination fee Wednesday 13 August 3pm NZ time $350
First late nomination fee Wednesday 27 August 3pm NZ time $3,500
First withdrawal fee Monday 15 September 3pmNZ time $700
Second withdrawal fee Monday 13 October 3pm NZ time $1,400
Final late nomination fee Wednesday 5 November 11am NZ time $17,500
Starting fee $8,750
All fees are plus GST.
Hellers Dominion - $250,000 - Group 1 - 14 November 2014
Initial nomination fee Wednesday 13 August 3pm NZ time $125
First late nomination fee Wednesday 27 August 3pm NZ time $1,250
First withdrawal fee Monday 15 September 3pmNZ time $250
Second withdrawal fee Monday 13 October 3pm NZ time $500
Final late nomination fee Wednesday 5 November 11am NZ time $6,250
Starting fee $3,125
All fees are plus GST.
All fees above are included in the total stakes pay out and will contribute to the increase in stakes for both Group 1 races.
The Christchurch Casino NZ Trotting Cup will be run for a stake of $700,000 and the Hellers Dominion for $250,000, both up $50,000 on 2013.
Please note that horses must be withdrawn on the specified dates above otherwise owners will be liable for payments. For full details including breakdowns of stakes on the above please visit www.addington.co.nz from Friday 25 July. Alternatively, please call Brian Rabbitt or Richard Bromley of Addington’s Racing Department on (03) 338 9094.
August Nominations for $84,000 Show Day Futurity Series
Tuesday 22 July
The Show Day Futurity Series (SDFS) will once again be programmed this spring at Addington Raceway with estimated stakes of $84,000.
Addington is also pleased to announce that for the second year running, harness racing enthusiasts Glenys and Philip Kennard are sponsoring and the series will be known as the Glenys & Philip Kennard/Graphite Developments Ltd Futurity Series.
Nominations will close on 13 August at 3pm.
The well-patronised series will cater for 3-year-old and older pacers assessed at C0 as at 1 July 2014 with the following criteria to be satisfied:
 Nomination fee is set at $100 plus GST with all funds received included in the stake
for the SDFS Final on 14 November
 A horse must have started at least twice in the period from 8 August to 31 October at
a NZ Metropolitan Trotting Club meeting
In 2014 it is proposed to run up to five races in the SDFS with the following conditions:
 5 September – **horses assessed at C0 to C1 2600m - $11,000
 17 October – **horses assessed at C0 only 2600m - $11,000
 14 November – ***SDFS Final - $40,000
 28 November – Horses who were not eligible to and did not contest the Final on 14
November - $11,000
 11 December – Open to all SDFS horses excluding those horses who finish 1st, 2nd
and 3rd in the Final on 14 November - $11,000
Total estimated stakes $84,000.
**Subject to programming.
***Total stake for the SDFS Final is estimated at $40,000 which is subject to total number of
nominations. All runners to receive a minimum of $800 for starting in the Final subject to
same conditions.
Full details can be viewed from Friday 25 July at www.addington.co.nz under Racing – Promotions and Incentives. Alternatively, please phone Brian Rabbitt or Richard Bromley of Addington’s Racing Department on 03 338-9094.
Ged Mooar
Marketing & Commercial Manager
Addington

‘‘A BLIND man can see what’s happening, we’re running out of horses.’’
With that stark statement, North Auckland trainer Ray Green issued a warning that unless Harness Racing New Zealand got off its hands and did something to address the problem, the game would quickly die.
Green went on the attack this week with the revelation that the number of mares served was down another 6.6% and for the first time in decades New Zealand’s foal crop will dip below 2000.
Alarmingly, the number of mares bred is down to 2832, a drop of 28% on 10 years ago.
And Green says that’s all down to the wonderful policy HRNZ had adopted to arrest the decline - ‘‘it’s called let’s do nothing.’’
‘‘Breeders are quite rightly getting pissed off - the owners aren’t there to buy their horses any more because the costs are too high and stakes too low. And HRNZ is the enemy because it has done nothing to counter that.’’
Green, trainer for the powerful Lincoln Farms operation, said they had recently sold talented pacers Medley Moose, Hawkeye Bromac and Imhisdaughter to Australia because it made no sense to keep racing them here.
‘‘Medley Moose is a beautiful horse, I would love to have kept him, but we had a good offer for him and it would have been hard to win that sort of money here. The handicapping system is such that with one more win he would have been up against Terror To Love. You just have to sell them.’’
Green said owners are continually weighing up whether to take a punt and keep their horse or to sell them.
‘‘If an owner thinks his horse can win two more races, and perhaps another $10,000, if an Australian wants to give him $50,000 for his horse, it’s a no-brainer.
‘‘The Auckland Trotting Club, struggling to fill its fields, is offering higher stakes, hoping people will retain their horses. But horses will still be handicapped out of it too quickly and people will still want to sell them.’’
Green cited the case of a two-year-old in his stable who had won three races.‘‘He’s a c2 but if he wins another race over $15,000 he’ll start next year as a c3 horse and to get a run he’ll have to go in standing starts and have Besotted, our c9 horse, breathing down his neck.’’
Crazily, Besotted, who has never won a race over $15,000, is still rated an M0 in Australia and could go to Sydney and win two or three races really quickly.
‘‘They need to create more opportunities for horses to be viable here if they want to keep them. But people will not wait forever. Like cars, horses depreciate as they get older, and the more a horse wins here, the less it is worth over there.
‘‘The game’s going to die unless something is done but the powers that be don’t seem to be interested.’’
HRNZ chief executive Edward Rennell said Green was completely wrong to say nothing was being done to solve the problem but there was no silver bullet.
‘‘Yes, the number being bred is of concern but what is encouraging is the wastage factor is less.’’
Rennell said the breeding decline was a worldwide problem. In Australia, standardbred breeding numbers dropped by 33% in the last 10 years and by 47% in North America, according to a report it commissioned from the New Zealand Standardbred Breeders’ Association.
The thoroughbred code faced the same issue, he said.
Rennell said while the NZ Metropolitan Trotting Club had introduced a breeders’ bonus - in the last three months 34 $500 bonuses have been paid out to breeders of tote race winners at Addington - HRNZ did not agree that all stake payouts should incorporate the same bonus, a French initiative being promoted by Studholme Bloodstock’s Brian West.
‘‘There is a limited pool of funds and if you pay some of that to the breeders that’s less that goes to the owners,’’ Rennell said. ‘‘And we are trying to make ownership more attractive and viable.’’
Rennell said HRNZ had increased the minimum stake to $5000 this season and stakes were up overall by 6%. It would be examining whether to increase the $80 payout to every starter.
HRNZ was also looking at reducing the number of races next season by 2%. In the 2005-06 season, 2435 races were run while that number rose to 2743 last year, putting more strain on field sizes.
Discussions were also underway with the Sires’ Stakes Board, the breeders and two principal clubs on whether changes were needed to age group and premier racing.
‘‘But we think that the changes to the handicapping system are working because field sizes are up from 10.4 starters per race to 10.6.’’
While that might not sound much, it was a significant improvement when it covered 2700 races.
Rennell said the handicapping sub-committee was meeting next week to review the performance of the new system and its age group concessions and would make a recommendation on whether it thought the drop back provision should be reduced from 10 starts.
The challenge for HRNZ was not only to get more horses to the races but to better use the horse population – if every horse raced just once more in a season, field sizes could be maintained.
Rennell said the number of horses sold to Australia was actually down on previous years.
‘‘It averages around 850 a season but that’s down 50-100 because of the new import levy.’’
Overall, exports were similar with about 100 sent to China.
WASTAGE COSTS BREEDERS $11 MILLION
HALF OF all the standardbred horses we breed never get to the races.
And that disturbing fact, rather than the continuing decline in numbers, will be the immediate focus for the industry’s main breeding body.
The annual cost to breeders of the high level of wastage is put at $11 million in a paper by Kiely Buttell, executive manager of the NZ Standardbred Breeders’ Association.
‘‘At an average service fee of $6000, plus vet costs, stud handling fees and agistment charges of a further $1500, the annual (wastage) cost to breeders is $11 million.’’
While figures show the percentage of the foal crop wasted dropped from 61% in 1995 to 53% in 2005, Buttell says the continuing high level is a major conern.
‘‘There will always be a percentage of the foal crop that is born with defects, die at an early age or suffer accidents that will impinge on their racing viability.
‘‘But we need to understand the percentage of horses that are deemed unviable for non injury related reasons and identify solutions to address this.’’
The NZSBA would also be focussing on conception rates.
Only 71% of mares served in the latest breeding season were confirmed in foal, a figure which has been static in the last 20 years despite improvements in artificial insemination in other breeds.
"Serving a mare three times and not getting her into foal is a massive cost to breeders.’’
Buttell said the association had engaged Palmerston North trainer and equine researcher Jasmine Tanner to scope a research project to investigate the quality parameters of chilled standardbred semen in New Zealand in order to improve conception rates in mares and increase the economic viability for broodmare owners.
Funding would be sought from the NZ Equine Research Foundation but the industry might have to foot some of the bill itself, she said.
Evidence suggested it was the smaller hobby breeder who was exiting the game, citing rising breeding costs along with declining stakes. That was a problem when breeders here raced 50% of horses.
BARRY LICHTER
Courtesy of the Sunday Star Times

Following two very successful runnings of the Seasonal Super Series held at Addington in 2013 the New Zealand Metropolitan Trotting Club (NZMTC) will stage a third Super Series on Friday 2 May, 2014.
The two rounds of the Series held in October and December last year proved to be very successful with a good level of runners (an average of 13 starters) competing in both the finals and consolations.
It was encouraging to see a “spread” of winners from a wide range of trainers taking out their share of the stakes, providing a number of different owners with a healthy return. As well as some current top 20 premiership placed trainers including Robert Dunn, Terry and Glenys Chmiel, Ken Barron, Tim Butt, Mark Purdon and Natalie Rasmussen cashing in, wins were achieved by Peter Bagrie, Brian Fahey, Gavin Cook, Craig Edmonds, Alex Hastie and Noel Taylor. Total stakes paid out in the new Series will result in $316,500 including the May round.
The third Series, to be staged also at Addington, will once again cater for lower grade horses with projected stakes totalling greater than $100,000 over six events.
There will be opportunities for:
 C0There will be opportunities for:
 C0 pacers at 21 December 2013 – Stake $23,500
 C1 to C2 pacers at 21 December 2013 – Stake $23,500
 C0 to C2 trotters at 21 December 2013 – Stake $23,500
Consolations for these races will be run should numbers warrant, with each consolation carrying a total stake of $12,500. All starters in the open race (final) are to receive a minimum stake of $500 and all starters in the consolations will receive a minimum stake of $250.
Field selection will be based on a points system.
To qualify to start in these races on 2 May 2014, a horse must have started in at least one race at a NZMTC meeting between 17 January 2014 and 24 April 2014. There is no enrolment fee payable.
It is the intention of the NZMTC that a similar series will take place later in the year on 8 August 2014 under like conditions.
Full details and conditions are to follow and will be able to be viewed at www.addington.co.nz from Friday 21 February. Alternatively, please call Brian Rabbitt or Richard Bromley of Addington’s Racing Department on (03) 338 9094.
Ged Mooar
Marketing & Commercial Manager
Addington

Champion harness racing trainer Mark Purdon has won over 100 group one races and just about every feature race imaginable, but one race he hadn't won as a trainer before tonight (Friday May 17) was the New Zealand Oaks.

Champion three-year-old filly Adore Me made it nine wins form ten starts when taking out the $150,000 Group One Nevele R Fillies Final at today's (Saturday May 11) premier harness racing meeting at Addington.

No juvenile trotter has been more consistent this season than Daenerys Targaryen, which is why it was fitting that she took out today's harness racing $60,000 Group two Sires' Stakes 2YO Championship at Addington Raceway.

Race Cafe may have only finished fourth yesterday (Friday April 19), but he earned more money than the race winner did, as he became the fifth horse to win The Met Multilpier Reward at Addington earning his connections a healthy $7,500.

Many expected a Mark Purdon trained runner to win, just not the one that did. Isaiah and Regulus, who were both dominant last start winners, dominated the tote. But after a hot early tempo is was Courage Under Fire colt Zacharia and reinsman Blair Orange who claimed Group Two glory.

Not only did she beat the boys, she set yet another NZ record in the process. That was the remarkable feat Habibti pulled off when winning the $80,000 New Zealand Trotting Derby at tonight's feature harness racing meeting at Addington.

Dual New Zealand Cup champion Terror To Love farewelled his co-trainer Paul Court with a dazzling win in tonight's (Saturday March 30) Easter Cup. It was a win filled with joy and sadness as Paul Court knows his Terror To Love rollercoaster has come to a halt.